120 Mph: `I Got Her Now'

Five Manslaughter Counts Filed

Chase Details Emerge

June 06, 2006|By HILDA MUNOZ; Courant Staff Writer

NEW BRITAIN — As Kevin Cales sped after his ex-girlfriend down the dark, winding road at 120 mph, one of his passengers put his head down and started praying. The other tried reasoning with him to slow down.

But Cales didn't listen.

``I got her now, I got her now,'' Cales said, according to one of Cales' passengers. He kept pursuing Maryneliz Jimenez, who had four other people in the Honda she was driving, according to court documents.

Cales, 32, was arraigned Monday on five counts of first-degree manslaughter in connection with the May 27 crash that killed Jimenez and her four passengers. Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford set bail at $1 million.

Cales is also charged with second-degree stalking, two counts of reckless endangerment, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license, second-degree making a false statement, interfering with police, evading responsibility in an accident resulting in death and evading responsibility in an accident resulting in physical injury. His next court appearance is June 20.

Cales is accused of following Jimenez, the mother of his 9-month-old child, from Club 290 in Plainville, where she and the four others worked as bouncers, and causing the deadly crash in Berlin.

Chamberlain Highway in Berlin, a narrow two-lane road, was slippery in the early morning fog on May 27 as Cales pursued Jimenez, who was traveling north. Cales pulled into the southbound lane and tried unsuccessfully to pass Jimenez, his passengers told police. They then saw Jimenez lose control, cross the road and crash into a small patch of trees, according to their accounts.

Cales passed the crash, slammed on the brakes and skidded to a halt, saying, ``Oh my baby, oh my baby,'' one of the passengers told police. Cales then backed up at 60 mph and lost control of the Volvo. It flipped and came to a rest in a ditch within 100 feet of the Honda, according to court documents.

Neither Cales nor his passengers were hurt. They got out of the car and left the scene, police said.

Those pronounced dead at the scene were Jimenez, 21, and the passengers in the Honda -- Gene Galarza, 19, Edmundo Carrasquillo, 21, Luis Andino, 18, and Brandon Shannon, 18.

Christina Galarza, whose brother, Gene, and cousin, Carrasquillo, died in the crash, was in court Monday with her mother, Candace, and several friends of the victims.

They were too late for Cales' arraignment, but said they plan on showing up for all his court appearances.

``I want to see this man,'' Galarza said. ``I want him to see us. We're the people -- you took away my brother. My brother was like my son, I raised him. My cousin was like my brother. We were so close.''

State Victim Advocate James F. Papillo said he is investigating a complaint that weeks before the accident, Cales should not have been released early from jail. Cales was convicted April 7 for violating probation and sentenced to 60 days. He completed half the sentence and was released as part of a re-entry program.

Cales has convictions for burglary, larceny and assault and for violating an unrelated protective order. There also is evidence that he had a history of harassing Jimenez, Papillo said.

``Is there anything the system could have done, should have done, to protect all five victims, but primarily the victim of domestic violence?'' Papillo said.

Days before the deadly car chase, Cales slashed the tires of the Honda, according to an arrest affidavit. He was charged Friday with second-degree criminal mischief in connection with that case.

In September 2005, police arrested Cales on charges that he assaulted Jimenez and tried taking their baby from her car. That case was dropped in January, along with a protective order issued after the arrest.

Jimenez also applied for a restraining order in civil court in New Britain. Her request was dismissed when she failed to show up at a hearing, according to court records.

Police investigating the May 27 crash initially traced the Volvo's license plates to Cales' home on Liberty Street.

They learned the car belonged to his sister, Rebecca Cales, according to the arrest warrant affidavit for Cales.

Cales initially told a police investigator that he crashed his sister's Volvo after realizing that he was going too fast and tried to slow down.

The brakes started pulsating, the car fishtailed and went out of control and he ended up in the woods, he told police.

He said he did not remember seeing any other cars on the road that morning, the arrest warrant states.

But the Berlin police detective who was interviewing Cales wasn't convinced and accused Cales of lying. Cales then said he saw a car in front of him lose control and end up in the woods. But he said he didn't know Jimenez was one of the occupants in that car.

Investigators also questioned the two people riding with Cales that morning, 16-year-old William Valle and 17-year-old Pascual Delrosario. Valle told police that Cales asked if he would go with him to ``handle some business.''

Valle agreed but only if Delrosario joined them, the affidavit states.

Valle said Cales drove them to Plainville and pulled into a health center across from Club 290, according to the affidavit.

They pulled out behind a car as it left the club and followed it into New Britain as it stopped at a pharmacy and a couple of houses.

Valle told police he was getting tired and remembers waking up at a condominium-type complex, where he heard Cales and the woman he later followed yelling at each other, the affidavit states.

The woman took off toward Berlin, and Cales followed.

``Cales was driving pretty wild, and for part of the chase he was on the wrong side of the road,'' Valle told police, according to the affidavit.